


A Matter 0f Trust

by Cr0wsnest



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: I have to count haiku syllables on my fingers i hate middle school flashbacks, Mentioned Lorelei, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, Other, Pre-Relationship, Rhys is a Disaster, They/Them Pronouns for Zer0 (Borderlands), Trans Rhys (Borderlands), Trust, Unresolved Romantic Tension, aftermath of katagawa jr, half alien half human character, implied - Freeform, zer0 breaks haiku, zer0 removes their mask (chapter 2)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:20:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28924986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cr0wsnest/pseuds/Cr0wsnest
Summary: Weeks after the Maliwan siege, Zer0 notices Rhys is still jumpy around them. They plan to show their loyalty.(Chapter 2 includes my Headcanon for Zer0. If you’d like, you can stop at chapter 1. :) )
Relationships: Rhys/Zer0 (Borderlands)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	1. 0ne

**Author's Note:**

> Again, chapter one does not have the description of my Zer0 headcanon and can be read standalone.

Zer0 could sense it. Something wasn’t the same. Rhys has been distant for some weeks now and they could probably guess why. Anyone could, really. If what seemed to be the average person’s best friend tried to attack them, they’d be a little shaken. However, it had been almost two months now, and Zer0 liked to think they were not an average pair.

Before the siege Rhys was open with his platonic affection. He would jump up and sling an arm around Zer0’s shoulder, exclaiming something about a new mod he thought about while he was doing his nightly skin care routine. He would send Zer0 out to get his… monthly necessities; because he knew that they would be quick and discreet. He was vulnerable with them.

Now, Zer0 is beginning to think that maybe they weren’t vulnerable enough in return.

The CEO fidgets at his desk, tapping his heeled boot against the slick flooring. He’s doing something on his computer, but they cannot find it in themself to care about what it is right now. If he were prey, Zer0 thinks, he would be an easy kill. This was vulnerable, but not in the way they wanted. This was anxious. This was restlessness. This was distrust and they had never wanted someone to trust them more.

“Rhys,” He twitches slightly, “Can we speak please?”

Rhys stills his toe tapping. A relief, really, the assassin hated when he did that. “I’m kinda a little busy, Bud. Can it wait?” He took a breath, “Lorelei asked for you to meet them sometime tonight didn’t they?”

“I am afraid this cannot wait.” Zer0 considered standing, they hated staying still for this long, but that would make them seem more threatening, wouldn't it? 

“Do you trust me, Rhys?”

He froze and turned his attention towards them completely, “Of course I do, Z. Why are you asking?”

“You’re acting scared still. Had my loyalty not been proved? How do I fix this?”

Rhys took another breath, this time it was shaken, uneven. Standing up, he walked over to one of the aquarium walls and gazed in. There were no fish where he was staring, Zer0 noted. He felt trapped so he had to move away. This wasn’t their intent— it never had been.

“If this is about the thing with Katagawa… I— I don’t know what to say… I knew it wasn’t you!” He ran his fingers through his hair, giving out a half hearted laugh, “I heard them dying, saying you had killed them… I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t!”

Zer0 stood finally andtreaded closer, needing to be close to the man. He continued.

“But— But then… I saw you. Not, well, not you, I know that now. Obviously… It did scare me. I thought you had left me for those Maliwan jerks. They could probably give you more challenges than Atlas ever could…” 

“I would not leave you. You are important to me now. I will not leave you.”

Rhys glanced over at the taller being now next to him, a twitch of a smile when he saw the pixelated ‘:(‘ that hovered over Zer0’s mask. He knew it was mostly involuntary, but sometimes it happened in the most awkward situations. He quickly looked back at the tank as he felt his face heating up.

Of course Zer0 would never betray him! How stupid could he have been to believe it? He felt a tugging in his chest, dread and guilt hitting him once again, and just as hard.

“I… I thank you. I’m sorry I ever had any doubt in you.” He smiled.

“You have been distant.” 

“I have. I have been.” 

There was a silence.

“And it obviously wasn’t fair to you. I just— I just have a lot of issues, Zer0. You know this.” He tried to play it off as a joke, like he did when anything got too serious.

“How do I help?”

Rhys turned toward them, craning his neck to meet where he imagined their gaze was, “What do you mean help? You killed my creepy stalker, I think you’ve proved yourself enough, don’t you”

“No.”

The CEO sighed and let out a small laugh, “Would you like to battle for my trust? Should we do a trust fall? Wanna do my laundry that I haven’t got to touch since the attack?”

“It is not enough. I want you to fully trust me. Like I do you, Rhys.”

“Wh—“ He sputtered, face flushing and tensing up, “What could you possibly do?”

An ellipses appeared on Zer0’s mask as they thought for a minute. Rhys was about to speak again before it was replaced with an exclamation mark and he was being pulled back to towards his desk.

“Hey, Bro, what’s going on?” He laughed nervously, “And I do trust you, but some of those computer files are private!..”

The assassin clicked through a few screens before they heard the door down the hall’s lock slam shut and the large metal window shutters begin descending.

“Okay now I’m kinda nervous. Are we playing flashlight tag?”

“May I speak with you candidly? None of the haiku?”

Rhys froze, “What?.. I- I mean, sure! Can you even do that? But are… are you sure? That’s, like your whole thing!”

Zer0 activated the desk lamp before the metal security shades blocked out all of the afternoon sunlight. The only remaining lights behind from the desk and the leds of the aquarium.

“I need full range for this.” A smile flashed across their mask.

“You… gonna sing me a song?” He urged.

Zer0 shook their head. Their hands raised to the nape of their neck, pulling at the straps and clasps that held their mask on.

The CEO’s eyes widened and he shot his hands up, clutching at Zer0’s, “Hey, hey hey! You don’t have to do that! Don’t ever feel like you have to do that for me, Z! I trust you! I do. I— I don’t need to see you for that.”

They stayed still, hands still stuck together, “Is this because you do not want to see what I look like?”

“No! No, Gods no! I mean, of course I would love to, I might have had a few guesses and maybe I’ve thought about it a lot, but…” He started to ramble.

“Few people know. None willingly. I would like you to be among them.”

“You… You trust me enough for that?” 

“Of course I do.” A heart.

Rhys’ grip softened, slowly removing his hands completely, “Okay…” He breathed.

And he waited...


	2. Tw0

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The reveal.

A quick smile emote flashed, but Zer0 wasted no time, it dissipated as soft clicks sounded from the buckles. They paused.

“I feel like i should tell you something in advance. You might be confused.”

“Oh, come on now you’re going to keep me waiting?” Rhys pouted.

Their shoulders shook slightly, a sign Rhys had now figured out was a laugh. They removed their helmet.

“Sorry for the ha—“ Zer0’s sounded much softer, less monotone without the voice modulator, but that was not what the CEO was focused on at the moment.

“ARE YOU PART HUMAN?!” He screeched.

“I tried to warn you.”

“Are— What?! How?!”

“I think you need to sit down first.” Zer0 sat the helmet down on the desk and led him to his chair, “My mom was human.”

“You— Wow, your hair is pretty…”

Rhys was still reeling, but the lamplight let him get a better look at the other. They, in fact, looked mostly human. They had seemingly long, dark hair that was tied into a bun, hairs strayed here and there from the helmet. Their nose and ears seemed to be more flat than that of the average human. However, the real, very obvious signs that they weren’t lay in their skin.

It was a dark and shimmering gray color that had a slight purple hue to it, and scattered on their skin were lilac-colored, luminescent outlines. Usually ovals, circles, or small dots, they almost looked like a giant pattern. The circles contoured their cheekbones, small dots lined under their eyes. 

Rhys just stared.

“Are you still okay?”

“Are you telling me you have that mask… that shaped so you can put your hair up?”

Zer0 paused, an almost shy grin forming, “That is correct. Yes.”

Teeth were very much sharper than normal. Mentally noted.

“Can- Can I…?” He trailed off.

“I can't read your mind. You can speak.”

“I don’t know if I can, actually.” He muttered and tried again, “Can I feel the- the glowy things?” 

He felt the other staring down at him from where he was standing. The assassin’s skin turned more purple than before, which Rhys didn’t know why, but still found interesting. 

“You mean… My skin?”

“Are those not tattoos? That’s just… Part of you?” The pitch of his voice raised in amazement. 

“No, not tattoos.” They crouched down, folding their arms on the arm rest, resting their chin there, “But… Yes. Any more questions, Rhys?”

He shivered. Hearing his name in Zer0’s voice, their real voice, was… an interesting experience. Rhys reached out and softly, curiously, traced the lines.

“You can feel it?”

“Any good questions?”

He flushed, “What else are you? I- I mean, like… your mom was human? How did that even happen?”

“I’m afraid the story of how they meet is classified. However, my other parent is Eridian.”

Rhys pulled his hand away, eyes widening, “You mean, like… Eridian Eridian?”

“There’s another kind?”

“They’re… How old are you? I thought they were all… Gone.”

“Not all. They’re hidden.”

“So… Wow. That’s— That’s a lot to take in.”

Zer0 smiled and stood back up, picking back up the helmet, but not yet putting it back on.

“So, what about your hands?” Rhys followed, instead plopping himself up on the desk. He was, at least, back to the Rhys that invaded Zer0’s personal space, “You only have three fingers, is that an alien thing?”

“No, a birth defect. Both my parents have five fingers. I’m told it happens.” They shrugged as they examined their hand. 

Rhys raised a brow and tilted his head, “Why do you get to be so cool? If I were half as cool as you are I could have all the companies at my fingertips in an hour!” 

Zer0 smiled at him and went to put his helmet back on, expecting resistance. 

But there was none.

They glanced up to see Rhys still smiling at them, excited by his new discoveries, he was no doubt going to ramble on about it for the next few days. Of course, only when they were alone.

“Has my loyalty been proven?”

He’s smile faltered for a minute, “Z, I told you you didn’t have to do this to prove yourself. I already trust you, but my brain is just… stupid.”

“I know.” They smiled teasingly in a way that probably would have made Rhys’ knees go out if they weren’t sitting down. They put their mask back on, latching the clasps again and all the other seemingly thousand things that held it in place. 

Trust regained. Mission accomplished. It certainly would not go back to normal now. How could it? They’d just just divulged information that could completely destroy them.

And it was exciting. 

Rhys was not going to shut down on them every time they asked him a question. No more sitting insisting Zer0 stand guard at the door during meetings instead of beside him. So, they were not going back to normal—

It would be even better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. This is my first piece in like two years so i hope I’m doing okay. Let me know if there are any mistakes please.:)


End file.
